Cyberpunk 2077: The QA studio targeted by a recent investigation defends itself!

Published on 06/29/2022 at 14:29

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As often, time allows us to bring out the behind the scenes of game development. Cyberpunk 2077, which needed a year of updates to fix the many issues present at release, was no exception.

Postponed several times, Cyberpunk 2077 would have, according to an investigation by Jason Schreier, suffered from a chaotic developmentthe consequences of which were exacerbated by a aggressive communication campaign promising mountains and wonders to the players.

A failed launch, and a redemption of more than a year

When it was released, and despite its obvious intrinsic qualities, Cyberpunk 2077 was full of technical problems, and some promises have not been kept. If it held up on PC, PS4 and Xbox One, the title was very difficult to play. The game was pulled from the PS Store for a while, and CD Projekt agreed to issue unconditional refunds to players, but they were presumably relatively few to return their copy to the dealer. Behind this problematic technical state, we would find serious management problems according to the information gathered, and Cyberpunk 2077 has become a textbook case.

The studio has apologized to the players, while by completely reorganizing its internal structure and updating the game very regularly. The effectiveness of this new organization will be measured on future projects, but Cyberpunk 2077 has already been able to regain favor with the public. From the end of 2021, reviews are back to positiveand update 1.5, which allows the title to obtain its PS5/Xbox Series versions, has been very well received.

Quantic Lab is defending itself against the charges against it

But recently, a 72-page investigation, spotted by Forbes and relayed YouTube Upper Echelon Gamersexplained that the catastrophic launch was not not only due to internal problems by CD Project. According to this investigation, the quality assurance studio Quantic Lab would have lied on its number of employees, on their experience, or that thousands of useless bug reports have been sent in order to create a smokescreen. These elements do not allow not to explain all known issues during development, but Quantic Lab had to defend himself. Studio officials have indeed contacted VGC to express their point of view. Stefan Seicarescu, CEO of Quantic Lab, said:

We strive to always work with transparency and integrity with our industry partners. The video posted on social media as mentioned in your article begins with incorrect statements about the history of Quantic Lab. There seems to be a lack of understanding in the process of testing a game before it hits the market. Quantic Lab supports over 200 projects per year from several leading global publishers and continues to maintain a quality-first approach to all the work we undertake.

All of our customer agreements are confidential, but in general, global publishers work with multiple QA outsourcing companies, not just relying on one, in addition to internal developer-level QA resources in in most cases. Each project we undertake is unique in terms of the project requirements. The direction of the project is agreed and adjusted accordingly according to the requirements in real time with our customers.

And the CEO don’t necessarily deny all the information reported by the investigation but tip of inaccuracies which are not detailed. What is understood in the words of Stefan Seicarescu is that the quality assurance process and what comes from it has been misunderstood, and that CD Projekt has normally worked with other providers, indicating that whatever ‘he is coming, the full weight of the failed launch cannot be placed on the shoulders of Quantic Lab. Contacted by VGC, CD Projekt declined to comment..